Similar?
by Venus Tenshi
Summary: As Kratos tends to an ill Lloyd in Luin, Colette and Genis realise that the swordsmen are more similar than they thought. [TWCtimeline][OneShot]


... Okay, I have a horrible writer's block going on with TWC. Chapter 49 is being a bitch. My sister was at a sleepover last night, so I was up writing until the morning, and I think I would have set the nearest thing alight if I had continued tackling chapter 49. So I just pulled up a blank document and spewed this up in a mess of tired, ow, and lack of revision. SATS SOON. AGGH. I just ... collapsed from sleep after writing this. It was a bit like "hey, I actually wrote someth- SNOOOOORE".

Alright ... this is TWC-timeline. I figured I should have done this in the previous two chapters, but there was no space, dammit. Plus, Luin is done and gone, so ... meh. Even though this is TWC based, there isn't a Char in sight. So it could be taken either way, I guess. My inner-Char feels so neglected. And my inner-Krat is screaming with joy.

... I have _got_ to stop writing past 1AM. Especially when I should be revising. (-Searches around for revision guides and notes-)

* * *

**Similar?**

'... Same eyes?'

'Yeah ... Kratos' are a little redder, though.'

'... Same face shape?'

'Yep, definitely.'

'Oh, their hair goes the same way!'

'... I don't think that counts, Colette.'

'Oh ... well, they're both really strong?'

'Yeah ... but Kratos is stronger.'

'And they both look similar when they glare at people!'

'Huh?'

'Look.'

Genis glanced over to the other side of the room, noticing two pairs of deep brown eyes glaring straight at the two of them after overhearing enough of the conversation to deem it insulting. The young half-elf quickly averted his eyes from the annoyed swordsmen, and Colette just giggled quietly after a moment of observation, waving over at them.

'See?' she said, turning back to her younger friend. 'It's kinda creepy how alike they are ...'

'We're not alike!' Lloyd exclaimed stubbornly from his bed, jolting up with a scowl. Genis and Colette watched in silence as Kratos scolded him and ordered him to lie back down when a noticeable wave of dizziness crashed over the brunet. He did so with a final awkward glare, tugging the covers over his head to block out any more similarities they could place between the two of them.

It didn't work as well as he'd hoped.

'They both look the same when they smile, too,' Colette said quietly a while after, nodding in her youngest friend's direction. He just raised an eyebrow, looking from the blonde, to the seemingly irritated and stressed mercenary sat on the end of his apprentice's bed. He watched him for a moment, thoroughly observing the frown that seemed eternally carved into his face, before turning his uncertain gaze back to Colette.

'Kratos? Smile?'

'Sometimes,' she whispered, leaning in a little closer as she lowered her voice so it would not reach the ears of the man on the other side of the room. 'You have to look out for it, or you miss it.'

'Chosen ...' Kratos growled warningly, revealing her whispering had been in vain, and he had heard every word. The bundle of covers squirmed uncomfortably beside him, not emerging from the cotton sanctuary that enveloped his body. The mercenary gave the two children a cold glance before going back to treating the ill teen, who was refusing any form of medication that came in the shape of a pill. Genis observed the scene for a second before turning back to his friend.

'... Scary.'

Colette simply nodded, watching Lloyd bury himself deeper in his covers as Kratos sat beside him, bottle of pills in his hand. 'They care about eachother, too.'

'In a strange kind of way ...' Genis muttered. 'Who knows ... maybe Lloyd will grow up to be li-'

'That's gross, Genis!' Lloyd intercepted loudly, tearing his covers away and bolting up once more to scowl at his youngest friend, eyes wide and unforgiving towards his claims that Lloyd would grow to resemble the older man. He didn't want to even _imagine_ it. 'I don't wanna look like _that_ when I'm thirty-eight!'

'I'm _twenty-eight_,' Kratos hissed, giving the smaller swordsman a venomous glare that made him immediately clamp his mouth shut, searching around wildly for an excuse in his brain. After failing to select one that could barely be called logical or believable, he settled with throwing his covers over his head and diving towards the mattress, drawing the thin sheets protectively around his body. Kratos brought a hand up massage his left temple, still clutching the small black bottle of pills in his other hand. 'Lloy-'

'I'm not swallowing those things!' came the insistent reply, muffled by the layers of bedding surrounding the stubborn youth.

'I wonder ...' Genis mumbled thoughtfully, glancing between the two of them. 'Maybe Kratos was a lot like Lloyd when he was his ag-'

'That's it, you're both dead!' Lloyd yelled, bolting out from beneath his covers and making dash straight for the half-elf. Genis let out a startled squeal as Lloyd managed to successfully grab hold of his ankle before he could scramble away. Before Lloyd could continue to drag his friend to the floor and tickle him into the nearest oblivion, a quick flash of pink spread over his vision, and he screwed his eyes shut against the light. Genis took this chance to wrench his foot free and leap over the bed he had been clinging to, grabbing Colette's arm before he fell to the floor.

Colette smiled triumphantly, letting her pink wings flutter lightly. Before Lloyd could get his composure back and make another lunge for his friend, he was met with a face full of fluffy pink feathers that clung to his hair and swirled around him before settling to the floor. Lloyd couldn't hold back a sneeze or two, and when he finally looked back up through a single feather caught on his fringe, he saw that the two of them had already made their grand escape.

'Ugh ...' he groaned, getting to his feet after dusting off the feathers Colette had stalled him with. He frowned, furrowing his brow as he pulled himself upright. A sharp throb struck the back of his head and travelled around to prickle his temples. He blinked, and his vision became dangerously blurred as he stumbled, trying to keep his footing. He blinked again, bringing a hand up to his head. The world seemed to spin to one corner, and he almost slipped back to the floor after staggering back. Instead, he landed awkwardly against something tall and warm.

'Bed,' his support ordered, brining an arm around to steady the dizzy teen. 'You shouldn't be moving around.'

Lloyd just mumbled something incoherent, letting himself be guided back to his bed. When he felt the side of the mattress against his leg, his body slacked and he slipped from Kratos' grip, flopping down onto the bed like a rag doll. Kratos watched him fumble for his pillows and simply rolled his eyes, sitting down beside the unwell boy.

While he watched Lloyd successfully locate his pillows and then begin fumbling for his blankets, he stole a quick glance at the bottle of pills he had left on the desk beside the bed before he had gone to help Lloyd avoid cracking his head open against the hard floor. With a second glance at the boy with his reclaimed covers draped around his waist and his pillows being held in a death grip against his throbbing head, he gave up trying to make him swallow them. It would not work.

He realised Lloyd was looking up at him tiredly, and Kratos just tugged the covers up to the boy's shoulders in reply.

'I won't question why you bear a heavy discomfort to the thought of resembling me,' he said simply. 'And I don't require an answer.'

Lloyd barely registered what Kratos had said, even though he tried to focus on him to shun the constant thuds of pain resounding through his head. He closed his eyes when everything before him slipped into a fuzzy double vision. Deciding one Kratos was bad enough, he pressed the side of his face into the pillow he was clutching. When he felt the back of a hand checking his temperature, he decided to offer an answer.

'You're weird.'

Kratos just raised an eyebrow in amusement, taking his hand away from the boy's forehead.

'Not ... _bad_ weird,' Lloyd specified quickly, waving a hand. 'Scary weird.'

When he noticed Kratos wasn't answering him, he shifted so he was leaning on his elbows. 'Don't worry ... you're kinda cool, too.'

Lloyd let himself collapse onto the bed again, deciding his vision was playing tricks on him when he thought he'd seen the mercenary smile. He felt a grin find it's way to his own face and closed his eyes once more when he felt a small pang of pain at the back of his head. Kratos noticed his discomfort and glanced at the small black bottle beside the bed.

'Will you take the medication?'

'You're not _that_ cool.'


End file.
